Tobacco cutting machine



July 21, 1936. P. Q. R. SCHREIBER 2,048,473

TOBACCO CUTTING MACHINE Filed April 11, 1935 4 Sheets$heet 2 TOBACCO CUTTING MACHINE Filed April 11, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 3mm, m c 1mm mu Kama 81 My M 4 July 21, 1936. P. Q. R. SCHREIBER TOBACCO CUTTING MACHINE Filed April 11, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 4- 2:4 W gym ma flalwwwger proposed to employ Patented July 21, 1936 1 UNITED STATES PATENT- OFFICE r 2,048,473 V a TOBACCO CUTTING MACHINE.

Patrick Quintin Robert Schreiber, Londom Eng- Iand asSignor to Robert Legg Limited, London.

England Application April 11, 193s,;.sesa m. 15,881 a In Great Britain April 19,1934

5 Claims. (01. 146-409) V In the rotary machines, in order that a high output of cut tobacco may beobtained, thearm carrying the knife must revolve at a relatively high speed, which means that the speed at which theknife strikes the mass of the tobacco as it issues from the mouthpiece is so high that a sat cut is not obtained for isfactory, regular, clean zwhich reason rotary machines have notto date found much favour.

of knives, mounted on a series of arms or a cutter in the form of a disc, which is rotated at a much slower speed. Even so, the speed of the knife through the tobacco is still higher than with the reciprocating type of cutter and in the case of a disc cutter it is necessary to provide mechanisms of a complicated nature for moving the cutter to and away from the mouthpiece.

Y My invention consists broadly in employing a knife or cutter with a spiral cutting edge. This construction of knife enables me to retain the advantages of a rotary motion with the addedadvantage of a relatively slow cutting speed and a very marked shearing and slicing action.

The form of the spiral is dependentupon the size of the mouthpiece through which the tobacco isfed, the advance of'the spiral being equal to the depth of tobacco to be cut. The knife may consist of a spirally shaped blade mountedbe tween two plates. forming the holder; which is preferably so arranged that the blade has a dished appearance when in position whereby only the cutting or bevelled edge is in contact with the tobacco cheese. The platesmay be of spider construction to ensure lightness. 1

The axis of the knife is arranged centrally of the mouthpiece and in use the inside edge of the spiral is arranged to coincide substantially with;

the top edge of the mouthpiece so that as the knife revolves the spiral edge of the knife advances relatively slowly across the shallow depth of the mouth through the mass of the tobacco until at the end of a complete revo1ution;the spiral edge will have passed over the complete surface of the mouthpiece and a slice of tobacco cut off. The inside edge of the spiral knife then commences another cut. It will readily be seen edge To obviate this ithas been a cutter having a number thatalthql gh, the speed of the surface of the knife across the tobacco is high,the cuttingedge. advances through the mass of the tobacco relatively slowly, and as the direction-in which -it-. advances is the depth of the mouth which-is always lessthan the width, a very slow cuttingspeed is obtained.

1 The knife may be revolved atva relatively high speed, and the cutting speed will still be less than with the reciprocating type of machine. 7

-;Another object is to provide means for automatically advancing the cutter or knife to take up wear as it .rotates. a

A further objectis to provide a means for grinding and-thus sharpening the knife blade or blades when they machine is in operation and also for tru- 1 ing I u the grinding .wheel. 7

, Theinvention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings inwhich Figure 1 is a sectional elevation extending lengthwise of the machine, and Figures 2 and-3 (respectively an end and plan view thereof. 7

Eigure 4,is;a:detail view looking from the rear in the direction of the arrow-of Figure 1.

1. Figure E -is a front view of the cutter.

.. Figures G and are fellow detail views.

Theaccompanyingdrawings illustrate a tobacco cutting machine in which .A indicates generally the bed; or framework poi the machine and B the sides. of" the. feed trough into which the tobacco to -be cut istfed. Extending along the bottom of thetrough an endlessfeed band-C mounted on a .pair of front rollers D and rollers E and F, the foremost front rollenD being the driving roller andthe rearroller- E a tensioning roller.

Atthe front end .ofthe feed band C the tobacco passes under :thedarge, top compression roller-G andis. then ifldzfOIWfiIdQil to an endless flexible metal band H and beneath a series of three compressionrollers J I ,J2, J3 The band H is mounted onsupport rollersK and straining and driv-' justable and guided vertically with respect to the.

bed of the machine. a 1 a Toeach of the sub-frames M are pivotally attached links 0 whose'lowerends are pivoted to weighted leversl? pivotally carried by the side frames-of the machine. *These weighted levers P vanced a predetermined amount through the Fast on the shaft 4l is-a pinidn- 42 'thatmeshes with a larger-pinion 43 on theend of a feed screw 44 by means of which the grinding wheel is advanced. l

It will be appreciated therefore that while the machine is running, tobacco is being fed by means of belts C and H and the associated rollers through the mouthpiece R where it will meet the cutting knife. the knife not in action is being ground, the grinding wheel is being dressed at intervals and also fed forward by the amount that has been dressed off, whilst the knife is also being drawn back continuously towards the mouthpiece to compensate for the amount that is ground off by the grinding wheel.

Referring to Figure 1 the grinding wheel 24 is mounted to rotate within a chamber 45 formed within the bridge piece, an aperture 46, which is of a size greater than the wheel 24 so as to provide an annular opening therearound, being formed in the front wall of the chamber. In the top wall of the chamber 45 is a port 41 connected through a pipe 48 to a suction fan 49. Particles of steel and grinding material are thus drawn through the opening by the action of the fan 49 which blows them into a side of the machine.

The collector 50 consists of a fabric filter which is removable and for this purpose is held at its top end by a clip 5| to the fan connection and at its bottom end by means of another clip 53 which secures it around a cup 52, supported on a bracket 54.

The machine may be driven either by a belt from an overhead shaft or as is shown by a motor 55 from which drive is transmitted through a belt connection 56 to a shaft 51 which enters the gear case 23. From this gear case is obtained the drive to the endless metal band H, the feed band C, the top rollers Jl, J2, J3 and G and to the knife spindle 9, the knife feed shaft 20, the grinding wheel dressing shaft 28, the shaft 25 for the grinding wheel and to the suction fan 49 through the belt drive 58 and also to an oil pump which supplies oil to all the working parts in the gear box.

Control of the machine is obtained by two clutches operated by levers 59 and 60. The lever 59 operates the clutch which disengages the knife from the driving shaft 51 while the lever 60 disengages the feed gear driving the endless band H, the top rollers J l-J3 and G and the feed band C.

By operating these clutch levers it is possible either to revolve the knife independently of the feed or to drive-the feed independently of the knife, or it is possible to have the driving shaft 51 revolving without either the feed or the knife being driven.

At the side of the gear box is mounted a movable cover 6| within which are a pair of gear wheels mounted on two counter-shafts (not shown). By changing these gear wheels the relation of the advance of the feed to the revolutions of the knife may be altered so that the machine may be adjusted so as to give any number of cuts required per inch of the material fed.

Attached to the front of the machine is an an nular guard casing 62 which surrounds the knife and is provided at its lower side opposite the At the same time that part of dust collector 50 at the independently 1 mouthpiece with a discharge f opening 'indicated gnrallly 9.12 53.

=Beneath thi opening is iafeed chute 64 down which the cottonseed discharges by gravity and tlier'ice it may-be' collected on a conveyor (not showhwor a container. T-he front of the casing 62 *is enclosed-bya glasspanelheld in place by a retainingrln'g 86: the front of the casing being hinged at 61 so that it may be opened in order to remove or inspect the knife. 68 is a securing latch.

What I claim is:--

1. In a rotary tobacco cutting machine, the combination of a main frame, a mouthpiece, a feed trough carried by said main frame for feeding tobacco to be cut through said mouthpiece, a bridge piece mounted on the main frame transversely over said trough and above said mouthpiece, a housing slidably carried on said bridge piece for movement longitudinally of the trough, hearings on said housing, a shaft mounted to rotate in said bearings and projecting from said housing longitudinally of the trough, a cutter fast on the shaft and having a knife with a spirally shaped edge which is set to rotate in a plane so that the knife edge advances across the mouthpiece, means for rotating the shaft and cutter, grinding means adjustably mounted on said bridge piece diametrically opposite to and above the mouthpiece, which grinding means is adapted to contact with the knife edge as it rotates, and means for automatically adjusting the housing in order to compensate for wear of the knife.

2. In a rotary tobacco cutting machine, the combination of a main frame, a mouthpiece, a feed trough carried by said main frame for feeding tobacco to be cut through said mouthpiece, a bridge piece mounted on the main frame transversely over said trough and above said mouthpiece, a housing slidably carried on said bridge piece for movement longitudinally of the trough, bearings on'said housing, a shaft mounted to rotate in said bearings and projecting from said housing longitudinally of the trough, a cutter having a spirally shaped edge fixed on the shaft and so positioned that the edge advances across the mouthpiece, means for rotating the shaft and cutter, a second housing adjustably carried by the bridge piece, a grinding wheel mounted to revolve in said second housing, the plane of rotation of the grinding wheel being substantially coincident with the plane of the mouthpiece, means mounted adjacent the grinding wheel for truing up the grinding wheel during rotation thereof, and means for moving the cutter housing towards the mouthpiece and for moving the second housing toward the cutter for the purpose specified.

3. A machine as claimed in claim 2 including a cam shaft rotatably mounted on the bridge piece, an arm fast on the shaft and provided with a diamond member adapted to contact the grinding wheel for truing up the latter, a cam on the shaft, means for rotating the cam shaft, an arm pivotally mounted on the bridge piece and in operative engagement with said cam, pawl and ratchet mechanism operatively connected to said second housing for moving the latter toward the cutter, and means operatively connecting said arm with said pawl and ratchet mechanism.

4. A tobacco cutting machine as defined in claim 1 including a movable upper mouthpiece edge, the means for feeding the tobacco to be cut to the mouthpiece including a travelling bed,

5. A -cutter as claimed in claim 2 comprising a knife in strip formand in which the cutter includes a back plate and a gripper plate havingspirally extending edges with bevelled faces set at an angle to the axis of the cutter and between which-faces the knife strip is mounted.

V PATRICK QUINTI'N ROQBERT'SCHREIBER.

July 21, 1936. L. SCHUHMACHER v 2,048,474

MAT

Filed July 16, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l ii i w; r

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